


An Unorthodox Solution

by Marf_Redux



Series: Cascades [3]
Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Coran/Ina and Ryan/Romelle are only mentioned, F/M, Keith tends to forget the past when he moves on, M/M, Multi, accidental evesdropping, survival mechnism from his time in foster system
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-02-24
Updated: 2019-02-25
Packaged: 2019-11-04 20:22:17
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,693
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17904992
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Marf_Redux/pseuds/Marf_Redux
Summary: With the end of reality possibly just around the corner Keith confessed his feelings for Shiro  only to learn he wasn't the only one. Curtis has as well and the other man eventually proposes an unorthodox solution to their situation.





	1. Part One of Two

**Author's Note:**

> First comments are screened and will never be read so please don't leave any. I have my reasons for this and they are in my profile if you simply must know why. I tell you this so you will be forewarned that if you leave a comment it will never be read or replied to.
> 
> Keith's forgetting of Curtis from the Garrison days is based on how he reacted to Lance and the reading that he really did forget him. So I went with the idea that as a survival mechanism Keith was used to putting the past out of his mind.

An unorthodox solution  
Part One of Two

“You really don’t remember me do you,” the man sitting across from him in the ship’s commissary said. He didn’t have any idea what he was talking about and truthfully Curtis was the last person he wanted to see. Since it was highly probable that everything was going to end in less than a week he’d steeled his nerves and told Shiro how he felt. Only to learn that Curtis who apparently had become something a friend and confidant to Shiro over the year had also just confessed to wanting him. So now both of them were stuck waiting for Shiro to make up his mind because he’d confessed to being torn.

It was better than his fear which had been total rejection with a I just think of you as a friend speech but the idea that he could have had a chance and just waited too long to act was a whole different nightmare. “No I don’t,” he said without really looking up, “should I?”

“I got assigned by Iverson to tutor you so you could pass your field repair test in case of being shot down in hostile territory,” Curtis said and the memory popped back into his mind clearly. “After it was done I asked you out and we went on a few dates before well,” He stopped talking then looking away.

“Before it was announced that the Kerberos mission was lost and Shiro was blamed,” He felt a bit guilty at how he’d acted then. He’d pushed away everyone he was remotely friendly with and then he’d done his best take Iverson’s head off after he warned the class not to screw up like Shiro he’d believed the lies like everyone else any pilot even Shiro could make an error but he still wasn’t going to let anyone talk bad about him. “I did my best to forget all about that time, I’m sorry.”

“Don’t be,” Curtis said shaking his head. “I hadn’t thought about you in years and I didn’t recognize you at first it was only when I heard James say you never had any friends that it clicked that no we had been friends and maybe more.” He laughed a bit, “I guess our relationship wasn’t going to go anywhere even if things had been different since we forgot about each other so quickly.”

“I don’t know we had a love of hover bikes in common,” he said remembering the conversations about it and how jealous Curtis had been when he told him about Shiro taking him racing. “I guess that’s something you have in common with Shiro too.” He said and then felt a bit annoyed he didn’t want to be remembering any good times with Curtis he wanted to dislike him.

“You guys are never going to believe this,” Rizavi said as she sat down unexpectedly. “Ina has a date with Coran.” She blurted out when neither of them seemed that interesting. He looked past her to see the blonde woman walking over looking at her friend annoyed. “Come on he’s old enough to be her grandfather.”

“Actually he’s old enough to be my distant ancestor,” Leifsdotter said without much preamble. “However, he makes me laugh, is reasonably attractive and according to his own statements still has a good century or more left in him.” Her inflection never changed but he’d seen it enough to know that was just how she was. “I don’t see any logical reason not to accept the offer.”

“Your really not much fun to tease Ina,” Rizavi said shaking her head. “I mean I guess he’s kind of cute but he reminds me of like a silly uncle or a deranged children’s show host, I could never date him.” He wished they’d go away but he knew it would seem rude if he said anything or just got up and left.

“So what are you two doing to seize the day if it really is the end,” Rizavi said turning her attention to them. “I mean Kincade asked out Romelle and James has been trying to get up the nerve to ask our his secret crush that all of us know about but aren't supposed to say anything about.”

“I’d like to fly something like the MFE or the lions just once,” Curtis said surprising him. “I mean I just didn’t have the reflexes for the pilot program so I ended up in support but it would nice to experience something like that just once.” He could hear actual longing in the other man’s voice. 

“Then come on,” he said standing up and gesturing for Curtis to follow him. “I’ll see if the Red Lion will let you fly it just once,” he had no idea if the lion would cooperate but it would get him out of here and let him do something nice for the other man. “And if it won’t you can still enjoy the ride.”

Curtis stood up and followed him he thought he heard Rizavi whispering something to Leifsdotter but he didn’t really care what it was. “You do realize they think we are heading off to sleep together now right?” Curtis said once they were in the hall. “And you don’t have to do this I know it was just to get away from them.”

“I wouldn’t have offered just to get out of there,” he said after a moment. “It was just a bonus.” He said and Curtis laughed. He was starting to remember why he’d said yes back when when Curtis asked him out. He was similar to Shiro in some ways. “I have to ask when did you Shiro start hanging out?”

“It was while you were in the hospital we were all short staffed at the garrison so we were pulling multiple shifts to get everything done and we’d talk some times,” Curtis said shaking his head. “Of course I didn’t even consider asking him out until I saw him in that arm wrestling contest.” He sighed, “I was going to wait until this whole mission was over because of conflict of interest I”m his subordinate but with reality possibly ending.” He said and shrugged, “What took you so long?”

“Fear of him saying no and thinking I could be happy with him just being like a brother to me,” he said to the other man that he realized he had given up on hating him. “Here we are,” he said as they entered the hanger and the red lion turned toward him. “Let me get us out there and then we’ll see if Red will let you fly.”

Once they’d flown out into space, “Come on sit down and we’ll see if Red will let you fly.” The cockpit immediately shut down as soon as Curtis sat down. “Come on Red,” he said feeling annoyed. He almost wanted to say he thought Black would let Curtis do it but that would probably make things worse.

“It’s alright Keith,” Curtis said after a moment. “I’ll be nice to just ride in one of these things you take back the controls.” The other man stood up and started to move out of the way. He jumped into the seat and grabbed him pulling him into his lap. “hey what...” Curtis was staring at him.

“Just put your hands on top of mine,” he said feeling a bit silly but if Red wasn’t going to cooperate then this would have to do. “just do the steering as long as my hands are there Red should behave.” The next few minutes were simultaneously some of the worst flying he’d ever seen and a great deal of fun. He decided then that if he had to lose Shiro he supposed Curtis might be better than others. “I can see why you got reassigned to support.”

“Yeah, I am not very good at this,” Curtis said laughing. “But thank you for this its the best date I’ve had in years.” He felt himself freeze at Curtis words. “Look I can feel how tense you are and how you want to deny exactly what this was.” He couldn’t bring himself to talk. “We get along really well so I’m going to propose an unorthodox solution to our situation.” Curtis stood up then and turned to him. “I saw we go see Shiro and ask him if he’s willing not to choose if we try it all together that is if you are also willing to consider it.”

He hadn’t even considered a solution like that. He’d been doing his best to brace himself for rejection. “I don’t know I just remembered you and while this was really fun it is hard enough to think about being with one person let alone two.” Curtis didn’t say anything. “You know what let’s go talk to Shiro and see what he says.”

to be continued..


	2. Part Two of Two

An Unorthodox   
Part Two of Two

“Can you believe Keith and Curtis are hooking up I’d have never believed it,” Rizavi’s voice drifted from around the corner causing him to start. “I mean taking off to let Curtis fly one of the lions and saying he’d enjoy the ride it was so obvious.”

“Well it wouldn’t be the first time,” Jame’s voice said in response. “They dated briefly back before Keith got kicked out didn’t think Keith remembered at all though.” James sounded annoyed. “I really didn’t think he remembered anything that wasn’t connected to Shiro.”

“Yeah if I was taking bets I’d have said Keith would go after Shiro not Curtis,” Rizavi said and then the three of them rounded the corner and saw him. He just nodded and them and left hearing the whispered discussion that amounted to them wondering if he was spying on them.

He spent the rest of his shift constantly going over what he’d heard. He knew there was most likely an explanation but a part of him was afraid that his asking for time to decide when they both asked him out had led to them leaving him alone. 

He knew that part of the problem was that while he loved Keith he was terrified that getting together wouldn’t work and they’d drift apart. He and Adam had been friends before they got together and that had ended horribly. He knew Keith wouldn’t do what Adam did but the possibility of some other issue driving them apart scared him. He also had to admit he had enjoyed the time with Curtis and he had needed that someone not connected to the lions so he could forget about not having a bond with Black any more. Of course he had black back now and was overjoyed with that fact but a giant robotic space cat was not a relationship.

He knew that Curtis was the safer bet they could be happy and if it didn’t work out he wouldn’t lose his closest friend. On the other hand was it really fair to chose Curtis because he was safer. He could easily see himself falling in love with Curtis but he wasn’t there now like he probably was with Keith. He was giving himself a headache so as soon as his shift ended he headed to his room and immediately stripped out of his uniform. He laid down on the bed not even bothering to put on sweats and a tank to sleep in. He was leaning back still struggling with himself. It was rare that he was having a hard time choosing anything he usually made up his mind and stuck to it about things he wanted.

The door indicator beeped letting him know someone was at his door. He glanced at his discarded uniform and simply stood up. Whoever was there would just have to see him in his underwear as he stood up and hit the control to open it. He wished he’d put his clothes on as he saw Keith and Curtis both standing there clearly surprised at his state of dress. “Can we come in and talk?” Curtis said his eyes glued downward.

“Ah yes,” he said stepping aside and letting them in feeling himself starting to blush at the blatant way Curtis was checking him out. He glanced at Keith hoping this wasn’t making him uncomfortable and saw he was doing the same thing. “Let me get some clothes on.”

“Stay comfortable I’m sure Keith is enjoying the view as much as I am,” Curtis said as he sat on the edge of the bed. “I’ve always loved a man in boxerbriefs don’t you Keith?” it was cheesy and silly but he saw Keith smile. “Look Keith and I have history that may not be as over as we thought and we need to talk to you about it.” 

He couldn’t believe it he was going to lose them to each other. He was going to end up alone. “We both want you,” Keith said speaking up shocking him. “So you don’t have to choose if you don’t want to.” He stared at Keith in shock.

“What he means is we both want to be with you and we aren’t opposed to being with each other so why don’t the three of us give it a go,” Curtis said looking at him. “If you want to that is?” This added a whole extra dimension to his worries. “Look if you need time the two of us will leave again and let you think.”

“No don’t go,” He said quickly and the turned. He looked at the two of them and pictured it the three of them. He had some wild times in the past but he’d never done anything like this and a relationship with one person was hard with two it would be even harder. He had every reason to let say no and make up his mind but he found himself walking over to the bed and then looking back at them. “I think I want you two to stay tonight and we’ll talk in the morning.” He looked at them. “No sex just us sleeping together if that’s okay I still need time to process this.”

“That’s okay with me,” Keith said and began stripping out of his uniform. He saw Curtis doing the same and had to laugh at the fact Keith was also wearing boxer briefs. “What’s so funny?” He said looking at himself and then over at Curtis who was simply wearing black breifs.

“Looks like Curtis has two,” he said to himself and Curtis began to laugh but Keith took a second longer and then got it. Keith smiled and grabbed Curtis hand and his before pulling them to the bed. He found himself still laughing as the three of them attempted to arrange themselves. Captain’s quarters or not the bed was definitely not built for three but eventually they managed to get situated in a way that wasn’t uncomfortable but did lead to a lot of skin to skin contact. He found himself wondering if he’d be able to keep to his no sex request of if he’d be the one to break it. “Are the two you really okay with this?”

“I am,” Keith said surprising him. “I mean I feel a bit silly that I forgot all about Curtis.” He wasn’t surprised he knew Keith still had the survival mechanism he picked up in the orphanage of putting the past behind him when he moved on. He knew it still drove Lance a bit crazy that Keith had forgotten all about their so called rivalry in flight class. “I probably should tell you that I kissed the past you while I was there and didn’t put it in the report.”

It was such non sequitur that Curtis began to laugh and he found himself smiling. “I think that is probably for the best.” He realized as he was laying there that he could do this. He could be happy in this situation no matter how weird someone else might find it. He began to relax and realized he felt really good.

The end.

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you for reading once again I do not read or reply to comments. Kudos are appreciated and thank you in advance to anyone who leaves them.


End file.
